


Scorch Marks

by ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Child Abuse, Coming Out, Foster Care, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Implied/Referenced Bullying, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith needs a hug, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Orphan Keith (Voltron), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Discovery, Self-Harm, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Trans Keith (Voltron), better safe than sorry, changing pronouns, kind of, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 02:39:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16966131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes/pseuds/ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes
Summary: In which Rihanna is Keith and Keith is fire.Or, the story that follows trans Keith from the day his dad dies, to his journey through foster care, to becoming the Paladin of Fire.





	Scorch Marks

**Author's Note:**

> Keith's deadname is Rihanna because I can and his pronouns will change based on two things. A. Other people's perceptions of him, and B. His perceptions of himself. Have a fan-fucking-tastic day reading this shitstorm.

Rihanna is dragged from the fire kicking and screaming. Two people who she thinks are police officers have to physically hold her down to keep her from running back into the burning house. They scold because they are adults and "Do you have a death wish, kid?!" But she tries to run back in because she is six and "I have to help my daddy!"

Her arms and legs are spotted with burn marks, and if she looks at them in the right light they almost look like bruises. As though the fire was a sentient thing, that had a mind about it to murder her father and hit her and slap her till she could no longer breathe.

But it wasn't.

Her father's funeral is sunny. Rihanna glares- as if that will make the sun stop shining and the sky go dark with rain clouds because doesn't it understand that her father is gone?

But the birds keep chirping and a pleasant wind is blowing as though it has somewhere important to be. She imagines the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland hopping around yelling "I'm late, I'm late!" She doesn't laugh, all though when her father put it on for her on their little box tv she always has.

Suddenly, the funeral is over and Rihanna is dragged away. They tell her daddy is in the box but it doesn't smell or sound like him so she doesn't really believe it. She likes to think her father is part of the stars, and back in the place that he always wanted to go to (Whenever she asked where he wanted to go or what he wanted to see he always responded with "Anywhere with you and your mother.")

Rihanna gets her first fake family after that. Of course they aren't called fake families, but she thinks it's simpler so that's what she calls them. Her first fake mother is a strict woman named Rosa who hits little children with wooden spoons when they don't behave, and her fake father is a kindred spirit named Hans with musical talent that is the exact opposite of his taste in woman. Unparalleled.

Rihanna tries to keep in line, but all the kids seem to be able to talk about is how much of a weirdo she is and somehow it always ends in a fight. Mrs Rosa says she is a "Little Hellion" who runs around as though fire laps at her heels. By the time she leaves that house she has bruises on most of her arms from the cruel snaps of wooden spoons.

Her second family comes a little later, when Rihanna is nine (She has been in the group home for two years, and she will do anything to keep from going back). They are a nice enough couple, a little on the poor side but completely happy together. They are planning to adopt a child soon, and are hoping that she will prepare them for the six months they have her.

She doesn't.

(Around this time she has to start wearing bras, but she kicks and screams about it until they give her a sports bra. She wears three to school everyday, layered until she can no longer breathe but that doesn't really matter.)

Rihanna has always been a bit volatile, but when she is at school- when the kids take her backpack and call her weird names and say that her dad probably murdered her mom and that's why they've never met- she gets violent. Her fists go flying and she fights as though fire burns under her feet, because nothing scares her more in the world than fire.

Her fake parents send her back two months early, and no one is really surprised.

Rihanna's third home is terrifying. There is only a father and three other children, though Rihanna will not remember their names for as long as she lives.

The father seemed to be made out of fire, because he was vicious and he hit and slapped her until she could no longer breathe. Because, for the year she was there, nothing scared her more in the world.

He had a big shower in his house, and whenever Rihanna got to use it she would stand under scorching hot water until her skin was pink and raw because maybe she could scrub off her body if she waited long enough. Maybe if she sat under the fierce torrent of water long enough, the fire that still bit her ankles would go away.

But it didn't.

School was not as bad as suspected. She didn't have any friends at first, but she was also mostly ignored. But there was one girl there who wasn't. Adeline was tall, she had a flat chest and her voice was rather low and she dressed like a girl. The kids would knock her books out of her hands, and yell slurs at her in the hallways. They always called her 'Adam'.

Rihanna made certain, despite this or because of it, to always call her Adeline (She remembers the time she tried to get kids to call her "Rye" and they used it to mock her. She never even liked the name, she just hated hers). They actually began to become friends, and eventually Rihanna asks Adeline why they always bully her.

Adeline tells her it's because she's transgender, and Rihanna nods as if she knows what that means. In the middle of the night, she sneaks out of her bed and looks it up. Transgender; A person who's gender identity doesn't match the sex they were assigned at birth.

She looks up gender identity, after that. And then dysphoria, and eventually it leads her down the path of fifteen or more quizzes about whether or not she's transgender.

100% You should probably look farther into it.

The results scream back at- Well 'Her' doesn't quite feel right, anymore.

As the week goes by they contemplate approaching Adeline about it but by the time it is Tuesday they are off to the group home again and they are so relieved that talking to their friend almost doesn't matter.

They don't tell anyone about the discovery, just lie awake at night hugging a hard pillow to their chest because if they can't feel it then it isn't really there. They also think about names.

They are unsure if they want a name close to the one they have already have, like Ryan, but it doesn't really seem right. They continue to respond to Rihanna, no matter how much they despise it.

Eventually, while they are at school, they begin to learn about space. Space travel, and constellations, and the Galaxy Garrison and they don't think they've ever wanted anything more in their life.

They learn about the man who founded the Garrison, Corell Bianchi- he had a son named Keith.

They likes that name.

Keith likes it.

Keith likes it a lot.

When the school offers up a club for kids who want to fly simulations, Keith doesn't hesitate in signing up. Their schoolmates whisper about them as they walk by, and rumors burn like bonfires at their feet, and every attempt at putting them out just causes more pain. But Keith has the club, so they don't really care.

Takashi Shirogane is visiting.

The kids are brought out to do flight simulations, and Keith thinks they killed it. But all the other kids, specifically one who they think is named Taylor, are being annoying little brats and Shirogane's motorcycle looks nice enough.

They steal the bike and drive away, and as the wind blows in their hair they can almost forget that they are probably going to be beaten for this. They can almost forget that there is fire still chasing them even after all this time.

But they can't.

When Shirogane (He asks to be called Shiro) finally tracks them down, they are far away and very much unconcerned with this business of being decent. But then Shiro offers something that they can't possibly refuse.

A chance at the Galaxy Garrison. And they take the offer, no matter how much it stings to hear Shiro call them 'Rihanna'.

They are getting into the Garrison. But kids from their class, specifically Taylor, are also getting in and that means that unless Keith wants to end up like Adeline, they are stuck pretending to be a girl.

Months go by, and slowly (Over time in little secret hideyholes that are good places to go after nightmares, of being found and held while they cry till they cannot cry anymore) Keith learns to trust Shiro. He is by no means a perfect being, but he lets Keith crash on his couch when they can no longer stand the girls dormitory.

He has a fiance named Adam, who is also nice enough. He is Keith's teacher though, so that's a little weird, but not so weird it makes the visits anything but relaxing. And in the middle of eating cereal at three am and earning their pilots license, Keith plans to come out to Shiro.

Shiro announces the Kerberos mission though, and Keith swears to themself they will tell him over video chat. But then Shiro is missing, and maybe Shiro is dead, and Adam is gone, and the fire is all Keith has left.

It burns through their veins, scorching everything it touches, and eventually it culminates into a deliberate crash in the simulation and "What the hell was that?" "Pilot failure, jackass." And Iverson's nose is broken.

They move into a shack in the desert.

They are determined to find Shiro, even if it means their last breath in will be hot desert air. They find a cave full of markings but nothing coherent and all it can tell them is to just keep moving.

It is a year later, when Keith is sixteen, when Shiro finally shows back up. They blow up a base and the annoying asshole named Taylor shows up with his friends to ruin everything, even though apparently his name is Lance or something. Keith couldn't honestly give any less fucks if they tried.

After they rescue Shiro they head back to Keith's shack, and then into the cave because apparently the graffiti was fucking alien space technology and wasn't that just wonderful.

They soar through space at the whim of the single worst pilot in existence, but eventually make it to an alien planet. They meet space princess Allura and registered crazy man Coran and suddenly they are fighting for their lives.

Everyone still calls them Rihanna.

They fight more and more and get more and more tired, but they can't stop now. Then Pidge is announcing that they are a girl and Keith feels almost obligated to come out as well. No secrets among Paladins, right?

"I have a confession to make, too."

"What is it, Rihanna?" Asks Shiro gently.

"I'm not a girl," Everyone looks shocked. "Well, I have the body of one but I'm not one I'm transgender and my name is Keith!" Keith shoots out without pause for breath. He always has been a little like fire.

The group looks suitably shaken, with the exception of Shiro who looks almost.... Betrayed? Probably because Keith didn't tell him earlier.

Coran, surprisingly, is the one that breaks the tense silence. "Well young man, I am personally very proud of you. Let's move on, shall we?"

Keith would kiss Coran if he wasn't an old man/alien. The team moves on, and although Shiro will confront Keith later about why he wasn't told, Keith is fine. No matter what happens now, Keith has a much better chance of making it out unscathed simply because he is free now.

He is the Paladin of the Red Lion, the lion of fire. And although it still scares him (More than anything in the world) maybe Keith's okay with being a little scared. He tries to talk himself through his fear of fire, but he can't and he's surprisingly okay with it.

He tries to hide the smile on his face when Coran gets for him the Altean equivalent of a chest binder ("The Green Paladin was kind of like you themself!") that moves with your breathing and you can do everything but sleep in.

He can't.

And maybe the fire that laps at his heels will never quite stop being there. But perhaps Keith never needed to get rid of the fire, maybe all he really needed to do was to talk to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone who can guess where I got the names and personalities of Keith's first foster parents wins my eternal respect and love because that book needs more attention.


End file.
